Which Mobile BB - POLL

narommy

As if fairly obvious there is a lot of excitement about Mobile BB but everyone seems to have a view it but I thinks it would be helpful for some of us if there was a poll.

So here it goes.



Personally I would be using it in Clane, Co Kildare and West of Camp (Camp, Castlegregory, Brandon) in Co Kerry. What should I go for?

watty

Too early for a poll. Wait a till:

• Digiweb's Mobile broadband has been running a few months.
• Vodaphone has upgraded from 1.8Mbps to 3.6Mps
• Meteor has a 3G licence now. Anyone know what/when they are doing?
• Data MVNOs are only starting. See what they are like.
• Shortage of HSDPA smart phones (most only 3G)/UMPC /IMD gadgets. See what these pocket sized true Internet gadgets are like on HSDPA.
• O2 rumoured to have Edge. This is nearly as fast as basic 3G and O2's EDGE may be faster than a lot of AT&T's. Maybe O2 will be selling iPhone

It's far too early for a poll.

I've used O2 on 3G and HSDPA modes. Also "other" mobile systems in continental Europe. And WiFi on pocket sized gadgets. Forget WiFi Hotspots that can be slower than 3G/EDGE and cost more!

govinda

I'm using 2 of the USB modems (1 for laptop, 1 for desktop) from 3, just outside of Summerhill in Meath. Not one bar of HSDPA coverage so the signal is quite weak but I get speeds of 200-300k for €19.99 per modem so I'm very happy with that....would probably get better coverage on o2 but the cost per month for 1 would be the same as I'm paying for 2 with 3!

philstar

wonder will meteor take on the broadband market:cool:

niallb

Meteor's data service is very usable, though a bit different to the 3G offerings.

I'm about 8km NE of Summerhill. No 3 coverage at all.

My Vodafone signal has been unusable for the last few days,
and I've been using my Meteor mobile instead.
I have the data unlimited tariff on it, so it's affordable!

I'm getting a solid 200k-214k according to speedtest.ie.
It's an EDGE connection however, so it ties up my phone.
I can forward voice calls to another number,
but texts are blocked until I hang up too which I wasn't expecting.
I'd switch to using the meteor connection for my
full time link if I could, but Meteor would expect
me to pay another Talk 400 tariff on a new number
to qualify for the Unlimited package on it.
There might be something creative I could
do with multiple phones on one of the business tariffs,
but it's still less than convenient.

Vodafone can reach speeds of 380k here, but when it drops
without warning to 15k several times an hour it's frustrating.
I haven't seen better than 30k on it at all since the weekend.

Once ever, back in mid April at 2am I got a speed of over 1Mb on Vodafone,
but it's gotten very unreliable in the last few weeks.
I'd much rather have a steady 200k than something that
varied at random between an old 14k modem and a 1Mb DSL line.
If it continues I'll try looking into formally terminating my Vodafone
contract (€49.99 per month since Christmas) on grounds that they
have ceased to provide the service in this area. It was good while it lasted,
and they may well be open to discussion.

If Vodafone could decay to EDGE rather than GPRS when 3G vanishes,
they'd keep me as a customer, but I suspect I'll be checking out O2 shortly,
as they'd leave me with at least Meteor style speeds if I can get coverage at all.
Dropping back to sub-dialup speeds a la Vodafone is pathetic by comparison.

NiallB

philstar

interesting to see that the vodafone take up is so low

zugvogel

niallb wrote:

I'd much rather have a steady 200k than something that
varied at random between an old 14k modem and a 1Mb DSL line.

Dropping back to sub-dialup speeds a la Vodafone is pathetic by comparison.

NiallB

Absolutely spot on. The mobile companies are trying to squeeze added value out of their networks now that traditional revenue streams are stagnating. To be attractive to shareholders all public companies have to have good growth prospects. To be honest I'm surprised it took the likes of Vodafone and Three so long to see the potential in the broadband segment. Unfortunately, providing a product that only works half the time, even when coverage is good just doesn't make good business sense! Surprised they don't realise that either!

watty

philstar wrote:

wonder will meteor take on the broadband market:cool:

They have a 3G licence now, but eircom their new owner (a while before B&B bought eircom) have a lot of debt. It's hard to see where the €300M for 3G rollout will come from unless eircom sells its retail (which is on offer) or re-sells Meteor (also likely and the 2nd time that eircom sells mobile phone off as asset stripping for carpet bagging owners) to someone with deeper pockets.